I fought the law and...
Say you are a school principal and you want to hire a new teacher. Or host a baseball game. Or get rid of an underperforming employee.
You better have a good lawyer - and a bottle of aspirin wouldn't hurt, either.
A fascinating new study by Common Good, a New York City-based legal reform organization, looks at the overwhelming mountain of laws governing public schools.
The easy-to-read study walks the reader through the laws and procedures a typical New York City high school principal must know, although schools here in North Carolina face just as much legal red tape.
For example, suspending a student is a 66-step process that can take up to 105 days. Want to fire an incompetent teacher? You have to go through 83 different steps - 32 just to put a note in the teacher's file.
There even are laws mandating the types of ear flaps on baseball helmets used in high school games.
In early 2003, 11 of Guilford County's 14 public high schools were found using ineligible athletes. Nearly 100 game victories were forfeited and 29 teachers, prinicpals and athletics directors were fined.
Many of those coaches claimed at the time that excessive paperwork and unclear rules were to blame for the eligibility problems. Reading this report makes you wonder if those coaches didn't have a point.
Comments (2)
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I agree that the red tape makes managing within the system almost impossible. Of even greater concern than being able to clear out incompetent teachers is the problem of clearing out incompetent principals. I know of a couple of schools where virtually every eligible teacher has asked for a transfer, yet the prinicpal remains in place, often doing great damage to the school and the students. How are principals held accountable?
Posted on December 29, 2004 6:54 PM
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Posted on January 17, 2006 3:05 AM